A Friend to Remember
by XOStayStrongOX
Summary: One-shot. Demi confides in her best friend that she has cancer. Story told through flashbacks. Story is better than summary. mitchie/alex demi/selena mitchie/mikayla Warning: character death. Changed last names.


**This is a little one-shot I wrote a while ago. It's a little cruddy but I tried. This story is mainly told by Demi in flashbacks. There's the narrator's p.o.v (Demi) in regular font and then the flashbacks are in no p.o.v and is italicized. I hope it isn't too confusing. Selena's p.o.v will be at the end. You'll know when it is her don't worry.**

_Cancer, it's a funny word. It's also the base of most everyone's nightmares. _

"Hi, I'm Demi Lovato, I am 17 years old and I have Medulloblastomas. Medulloblastomas is a type of brain cancer. With this brain cancer, I can get surgery to help cure it but the surgery doesn't get rid of the cancer alone. In order to fully get rid of the cancer I also have to go through chemotherapy and radiation. I have refused treatment though. The reason behind that, I will explain later. The hardest part was when I had to tell my best friend in the whole world what was going on. I called her and told her I had to tell her something, but I needed to do it in person. She immediately told me to come right over."

* * *

_Demi walked up her best friend's driveway. She was going over in her head how she would tell her best friend the bad news. As she thought, she stopped for a moment to look up at the sky. It was a crisp shade of blue with not a cloud in sight. Something caught her eye and she looked over to see a bird flying toward a tree in the distance. She watched for a moment as the bird landed on its nest. She watched the bird feed its babies. She then sighed and continued walking to the front door. She stopped at the top of the stairs and stuck her finger out to ring the doorbell. She paused but before she could even think about actually ringing it the front door swung open and the next thing she knew her best friend had her in a tight hug._

_"Hey, Demi!" Her best friend selena exclaimed in a cheery voice. She released her best friend. Her smile quickly faded when she saw the look on Demi's face._

_"What's the matter?" She asked with confusion written all over her face._

_"I-I have …s-something to tell you." Demi studdered still unsure of how to even begin telling Selena what the doctor had told her earlier that day._

_Selena wrinkled her forehead in concern, "What is it?" By the sound of Demi's voice though she almost wasn't sure she even wanted to know._

_"Not out here." She takes her best friends hand and pulls her into the house. She leads her up to Selena's bedroom. Really, the whole reason behind taking Selena up to her room was because she was stalling and Selena knew it too._

_"Dem, stop stalling; just tell me what's going on already."_

_"ok-ok, I have c-uhmaba" She said running her hand over her mouth when she said the word cancer so Selena couldn't understand her._

_"You have what?"_

_Demi sighs loudly, "I have cancer."_

_Selena froze. Demi had just said the dreaded C-word. She blinked unsure that she had even heard Demi correctly._

_Selena looked Demi in the eye and said in such a low voice that Demi had to strain to hear her, "Y-you, have w-what?"_

_"You heard me," Demi said solemnly, "please don't make me say it again."_

_"What kind of cancer do you have?"_

_"It's a type of brain cancer."_

_"I-It's fixable right? I-I mean you can get treatment for it, right?"_

_Demi sighed again, "Yes," Selena's face lit up, "but-"_

_"no, no buts, please no."_

_"I've refused treatment." Demi said it so low that the only way Selena could know what Demi said was by reading her lips._

_"You did WHAT?!" Selena practically yelled at Demi. Demi was kind of shocked at the outburst. "Why would you do something like that? You could get rid of this thing. I mean it's your life for crying out loud. You're just going to throw it all away just like that. Do you honestly think your life sucks that bad?!_

_"J-just hear me out ok? I have a reason behind the decision I made."_

I was nine years old when I was actually first diagnosed with Medulloblastomas. The doctor sat my parents and me down and explained the best a person can to a nine year old what I had. As soon as he was finished explaining, I began to cry. I thought for sure I was going to die and I really didn't want to. At that time, I was afraid of dying. The surgery to help remove a majority of the tumor was set for two weeks later. I was a nervous wreck the whole entire two weeks. This was going to be my first ever surgery and it was a major one, which stacked even more worry into my already nervous mind.

Before I knew it, the day of the surgery arrived. I was told I was under the knife, as they say, for about 5 hours. The doctor came into the waiting room at the end of the five hours to tell them my condition. Everything had gone well and I was awaiting them in recovery. They had not been able to remove the entire tumor which had been expected. I was then set to begin radiation the following week.

Everything was going fine at first but a few days after I started the radiation my body began to reject it. I got really sick. I couldn't keep anything down, drinks and food alike. I lost a lot of weight in a short time span. They had to stop radiation. I was put on a feeding tube and taken to the ICU. I wasn't expected to survive the next couple of days. Somehow I managed to pull through and regained the weight I needed to go back on radiation.

After 6 months of treatment, the tumor had finally dissipated. I was taken off of treatment but I knew all along I could relapse. I promised myself though, that I would never put myself through that hell on earth again.

_I sat there on Selena's bed with her telling her all of this. She stayed silent through it all. Her eyes widened when I told her I should have died. When I was finished, she sat there speechless._

_Finally after a long silence, Selena finally spoke up, "I-I can't believe this. You've just accepted your death sentence and you don't even care about how anyone else feels."_

_"Selena-" Demi tried._

_"No, you just don't even care that you are hurting me right now. I can't lose you Dem! You're my best friend in the whole world. You're not just my best friend you're my sister."_

_"Do you really want to spend the time we do have left fighting Sel?" She wondered. I don't want to lose you either. It'd kill me."_

_Selena silently sighed, "No, I don't want to fight with you. I want to enjoy this time I do have with you."_

_There was a silence again. Selena slowly speaks up after a moment._

_"How long?" She asked solemnly._

_"How long, what?"_

_"How long do you have until…" Her voice trailed off sadly._

_"I don't know yet."_

_A tear slid down Selena's face as she began to cry. Everything Demi had told her was finally sinking in. She leaned into Demi as Demi hugged her. Upon seeing her best friend cry she couldn't help but cry a little too._

* * *

I slept over at Selena's house that night and the night after. Life eventually went on. We attended school, hung out, and did homework together. Everything was going fine until one day while out and about with Selena things went south.

We had gone shopping at the mall. I already wasn't feeling well that day. I had woken up with a headache, but we had had these plans for a while now so I decided to just do my best to ignore it. As the day went on though, the headache seemed to be getting worse.

* * *

_"Okay the next store I want to go to is Abercrombie. I need some new jeans." She took one last bite of her pizza she and Demi had gotten for lunch in the food court._

_"I agree. I need some new jeans too and some new shirts." She threw her trash away and they started walking toward the store. Half way there she stopped suddenly, "Ah, she winced in pain as she rubbed her temples._

_Selena turns around to face her friend. "Are you ok?"_

_"No, my head hurts a lot. My whole head just feels like its splitting open. Just the back of my head hurt this morning. Can we sit down for a minute?"_

_"Yeah, sure," She says, concern for her friend clearly evident in her voice._

_Demi sits down on a nearby bench and puts her head in her hands hoping to relieve the pounding. Selena comes over and sits down next to her and puts a hand on her back. Demi looks at her and then lays her head down on Selena's lap. It broke Selena's heart seeing so much pain in her best friends eyes and not knowing how to help her. She begins to lightly stroke and play with Demi's hair. They sit there in silence for about 15 minutes._

_Selena puts a hand on Demi's arm. "You ready to go to Abercrombie now?"_

_Demi doesn't respond. Selena leans forward and sees that Demi has fallen asleep. She laughs lightly to herself and leans down and gets a book out of her bag. She takes her bookmark out of the book and begins to read. Another half an hour goes by before Demi begins to wake up. Demi sits up, stretches and rubs her eyes. She looks around and realizes she had fallen asleep at the mall._

_"How long was I asleep?" She asks. Sleep was still strongly noticeable in her voice._

_Selena looks at her phone. "About 45 minutes."_

_Demi laughs a little at herself for falling asleep. "I'm feeling a little better, wanna continue shopping?"_

_"Yep."_

_We got up from the bench and to continue walking. But immediately after getting up, my vision started going dark. Selena was behind me and I called out her name._

_"Selena-"_

_"Yeah, Dem?" She sees Demi beginning to fall backwards. "Whoa."_

_Demi's vision had gone completely black before she could even finish her sentence. She collapsed in Selena's arms. Selena eased her down to the ground and she sits on her knees. She keeps Demi's head in her lap._

_"Dem, Demi? Are you ok?!" She tried to shake Demi awake. _

_Selena begins yelling for anyone who would listen to her. Someone finally ran up to them and kneeled down next to the girls. She begs the person to call 911 as she continues to try to get a response from Demi._

_Selena begins to cry when she can't get a response from Demi. "Please don't leave me Demi. Please. Not yet." She leans over Demi and sobs into her friend's shoulder._

_I woke up a few hours later in the hospital. Selena was right there next to me. She was so happy I had finally woken up._

_"Oh thank god." She hugged her best friend tight. Fresh tears threatened to fall from her eyes._

_"Where am I?" Demi wondered._

_"You're in the hospital. You passed out cold while we were in the mall. You don't remember?"_

_She shakes her head, "No." She winces in pain. Her head was killing her again. After a moment she continues, "The last thing I remember is getting up from the bench and then feeling dizzy."_

_"Oh." A fresh tear trickles down her cheek. She looks away from Demi and quickly wipes it away hoping she doesn't see her._

_Demi caught it anyway though. "Sel, what's wrong?"_

_Selena looks at her again as more tears began to fall. "The doctor came in just before you woke up." Another tear fell as she continued, "The cancer has spread more into your brain. That's why you were getting severe headaches. He also said…" She paused a moment swallowing the lump in her throat. "He also said you have three months left." After she finished that sentence that was it, she couldn't hold it in anymore. She let out a sob and began to cry._

* * *

I was in shock for a moment. I couldn't believe what she had told me. Three months, already? I mean I wasn't regretting my decision, but I still couldn't believe it. We spent the rest of that day in the hospital talking, crying, eating, watching tv and more crying. I was officially released from the hospital a week later. There was nothing more they could do for me. The doctor told my parents to take me home and enjoy the last few months they had with me.

For the next three months Selena and I were inseparable. Not that it was much different than usual. Every day we were together. If I went somewhere, she went too and vise versa. It was never questioned whether or not we would go somewhere together. It was always 'call Selena we are going to this place today.'

Soon though, I wasn't going anywhere with anyone because I was restricted to my bed. I had become too sick and week to get up let alone go anywhere. I had no appetite and I was sleeping a lot. Selena never left my side though. She was always there. Whether it was getting something for me, giving me my medication or just sitting there watching tv while I slept.

* * *

_"Sel?" She asked weakly._

_She looked over at Demi from the book she was reading. "Yeah, Dem."_

_"You know I love you right? You know you will always be considered my sister right?" Her weak voice was close to a whisper._

_"Always, Demi. Why do you ask?"_

_"Just making sure," There was a brief silence. "Selena," She asked again._

_"hmm?"_

_"I want you to speak at my funeral."_

_Selena looked at her unsure of what to say. _

_Demi continued, "I know you can do it Sel. I know that you can give the speech better than anyone and it can shine a light on how great our friendship was."_

_Selena smiled a little. "Ok, Dem. I'll speak at your funeral."_

_"Promise?"She stuck her pinky out like they would do when they were Her eyes were beginning to close on her. Her weak body couldn't control her tiredness any longer._

_She takes Demi's pinky into hers. "Promise. Now get some sleep."_

_Demi lightly nods in response. She began to snore lightly as sleep consumed her._

* * *

When we were younger, Selena and I loved to go swimming. It was our favorite pass time. We loved it so much so that my mom got a pool for my backyard. During my sickness, we spent a lot of time on the pool just remembering the good ol' times. Even when I was too weak to walk, I still requested time in the pool. This may sound weird to you but my final wish was to pass away in the pool. I wanted to be in the one place I was the most comfortable and had the most memories and that for me was my backyard pool.

One day, I was consistently in and out of sleep and my breathing was getting more and more shallow. My family knew my time here on earth was coming to a close. My mom sat me up in the bed and Selena helped her put on an old t-shirt and shorts as my dad held up my weak, limp body. When they were done, my dad picked me up like a baby and carried me out to the pool.

The stereotypical day for someone passing away is a cloudy sky and a dreary feel in the air. The weather that day though, was sunny and warm. The sky was blue and the birds were chirping. There were kids out playing down the street. I could faintly hear them laughing and yelling happily.

My dad laid me down on one of those inflatable devices. He stroked my hair and whispered in my ear how much he loved me. I looked over at Selena. Tears were falling down her face as she silently cried. I used all my strength to weakly reach out for her. I felt my hand touch her cheek as she got closer to me. I somehow managed to wipe away some of her tears then she took my hand. She started talking to me, telling me how much she loved her twin sister, which is what she sometimes considered me since we were only a month apart in age and looked so much alike from behind, she told me how much she'd miss me and she shared her favorite memories of me.

A tear slowly slid down my cheek as she finished. I lightly began to cry as the world around me began to darken. I felt my mom kiss my forehead. She whispered to me and told me it was all ok. It was ok to let go; that they would miss me but they would be ok. I then let go and the world around me got darker. My breathing got even shallower. I heard Selena yell one last time that she loved me then my world was gone in darkness. I had taken my last breath.

* * *

**Selena's p.o.v**

I don't know why people always say that dead people just look like they are sleeping at funerals. It never made any sense to me. I mean don't get me wrong, Demi looked really beautiful and peaceful lying there in her coffin. But she did not look like she was sleeping. People would come up to me and tell me how nice she looked and how she seemed to just be sleeping. I would just nod in agreement then walk away.

I did keep my promise by the way to talk at Demi's funeral but before I was called up to the podium, I found myself staring at a bunch of Demi's flowers and remembering all the amazing times we had together.

_I remember not too long ago, Demi and I made a dance video. I don't remember for the life of me why we made it; I guess just for the hell of it. We both couldn't dance back then to save our lives._

_We had this secret handshake to the kit-kat bar commercial song. I mindlessly began doing the handshake to the air without realizing it. A small smile played on my lips as I remembered every hand gesture._

_More thoughts consumed my mind. One thing was for sure. Demi wasn't just my best friend. She was my sister._

My thoughts were interrupted when the pastor said my name into the microphone. I made my way up to the podium.

"Hi, everybody." I said into the mic. My voice was solemn and almost in a whisper. "I was personally asked by Demi to talk-" I trailed off and looked out at everyone who was staring back at me. I saw Demi's family crying and I began to cry myself. "Sorry." I choked out.

After a moment something to the right of me and in the distance caught my eye. I looked over and standing there was Demi. She was standing by an old oak tree. She looked beautiful all dressed in white. She looked over at her family and then me. She had a wide smile on her face. She waved at me as we made eye contact. I couldn't help but smile right back at her. She then faded away. I knew right then that was Demi's way of showing me that she was ok and everything was going to be ok. I went back to looking at everyone. I cleared my throat and continued talking to everyone about my best friend. I told them all about me, how we met and our friendship. I told them my favorite memories of us. As I finished, I told them that she was that one friend that no matter what I would never forget.


End file.
